A THREE days land conference was held last weekin the mid-remote village of Ogho in Varisi ward of North West Choiseul.
The event which was held from the 5th to the 8th October was attended by more than one hundred delegates.
This is the thirty forth (34) conference of the Lauru Land Conference of Tribal community since 1981.
Its the highest forum of Lauru people where representative from each ward around Choiseul Province, or Lauru as it is known locally, came together to talk about and share issues that affect the people of Lauru and find ways and means to address them and also to proactively look at issues that will affect the people of Lauru.
The conference kicked off with the traditional welcome by the warriors of Varisi ward. Fierce warriors with traditional weapons of Lauru guard the shore of Ogho village in this traditional welcome.
After the traditional welcome the conference delegates then were led to the community hall for light refreshment where they met the President of Lauru Land Conference of Tribal Community (LLCTC) Rev Lesley Boseto and Mr Luke Pitaköe as the LLCTC Secretary and with other chiefs and elders of Varisi and all the people of Varisi ward.
During the refreshment Chief Vanakana of Varisi ward warmly welcome all the delegates to Varisi ward and Ogho as host village.
After the refreshment the Ogho leaders led all the delegates to their various accommodations for the four nights. The conference proper was opened at around 8pm by the inter-denomination leaders of Varisi.
The conference was attended by Political leaders of Choiseul Province, who was represented by the Deputy Premier Hon Alpha Kimata and other Members of the Provincial Assembly, church leaders, traditional leaders, village elders, women and young people of Lauru. Non-Governmental Organisation and Regional agency partners to LLCTC such as The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) and Ecological Solution of Solomon Islands (ESSI) are also represented and presented at the conference on the importance of our environment and the management of the resources.
The various topic areas covered and discussed over the week range from Bible studies, Land boundaries, genealogy, social issues and Environment. Resolutions were passed and endorsed by the conference members in relation to the topics covered to address different issues discussed during the week.
The three days meeting was very moving with energetic contributions from the conference delegates.
More to celebrate about during this weeklong gathering is the initiative that the elderly President and Founder of LLCTC Chief Rev Lesley Boseto surprisingly attended the three days meeting with the elderly condition he went through.
“Thank you President and Founder Chief Rev Lesley Boseto for the vision and the heart you have for the people of Lauru over thirty four (34) years since 1981,” The contribution that Rev Lesley Boseto has for the country and the people of Choiseul is beyond our imagination. He is a person for the people of all levels and relates well with everybody.
Moving forward from the founding era to the current and next generation, LLCTC in the recent conference declare nominations for the post of President and General Secretary.
People of Lauru are invited to submit their nominations through the 12 area meetings under the LLCTC region within Lauru before the annual conference in October next year for the election. This will be the new leaders to take over from the founding President and Secretary since LLCTC inception.
As a token of appreciation and recognition for the leadership President Chief Rev Lesley Boseto has for Lauru, the Varisi area meeting prepared and erected a traditional food pack called SUQU. SUQU consist of Important traditional food and has many reasons as to why they prepare in Lauru custom and tradition.
However the Suqu erected at Ogho is purposely to show the happiness and thankyou by the people of Varisi to the work that the founder and President Rev Boseto has done for them and Choiseul as a whole in relation to the work that LLCTC has done as Been the “Voice of the Voiceless and the marginalised” in Lauru.
After three days of meeting and discussions, the LLCTC conference proper came to conclude on Thursday lunch time followed by the traditional SUQU ceremony late afternoon.
More than a thousand people around Varisi ward and the participants witnessed the closing ceremony. Cutting of the SUQU by the President and the LLCTC delegates was the highlight of the closing ceremony of the 34th LLCTC conference.
LLCTC Secretariat on behalf of the President, the executive and the conference members humbly thank the following partners for their financial support towards the meeting.
The support rendered by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Secretariat of the Regional Environment Program (SPREP) has really backed up LLCTC to run this conference with the support from the Choiseul Provincial Government, Bingo tribe, Ecological Solution of Solomon Islands (ESSI), the twelve area meeting members, individual Lauruans and most of all the hosting Varisi ward and the hosting community of Ogho village of North West Choiseul Province who looked after more than hundred peoples of Lauru for the duration of four days. God Bless Lauru Land Conference and God Bless Choiseul Province.
By Jimmy Kereseka
